


The Surface

by hoekekai



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Game)
Genre: Bug Tank AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-10
Updated: 2019-07-13
Packaged: 2020-01-07 14:30:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18412556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hoekekai/pseuds/hoekekai
Summary: They don't know how it happened, but the Dreamers, the Root and the Pale King have found themselves in much more hot water than expected.Finding themselves in the human world, the group quickly becomes separated, stranded in the middle of the city. As night quickly falls, and with a human involved, the trio are ready for one hell of an adventure. Well, not with plane rides, dogs, dorito chip crumbs, and a tenor saxophone involved.(This work was inspired by Rukafais' Bug Tank AU! Go check it out on Tumblr!)





	1. The Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Pale King plans for a trip for the Dreamers to see an unspecified location. However, things quickly go awry.

* * *

"Thank you for coming here today. Your devotion to this kingdom will be remembered for generations to come." The Pale King greeted, pouring tea into the cups on the table. It was his honor to serve his guests this time, especially for the first impressions of the group. His root sat next to him at the circular table, eying the three figures sitting across from them. She was sometimes a little shy when it came to meeting new guests, but today seemed like a day she would come out of her shell.

The Wyrm secretly smiled to himself, feelings of excitement and glee masking over his prior thoughts. _Oh yeah, it was all coming together after so long._

After god-knows-how-long of careful searching and consideration, their three loyal Dreamers agreed to partake themselves into a sacrifice for their Kingdom. Surely enough, it was the first time that the three crossed paths together. It wasn't known yet if they even would cooperate well together, as the White Lady suggested. After all, they were going to be stuck with each other for the rest of their lives in the same realm. Secondly, they didn't even know how to operate seals and maneuver dreams. If these three were going to do it, they were going to have to do it right.  

"I don't think you've ever served this. A new blend, I suppose?" Lurien asked, softly swishing the white petals at the bottom of his cup before taking another sip. It was not typical that such teas would contain remnants that retained a color of pure white, only the finest and rarest blends imported from outside of Hallownest.

"Yes, Delicate Flower today. Ze'mer brought some over from her personal garden today, and we let our tea specialist work his magic." The King responded. "Are you not enjoying it much?"

"Not at all. I think it tastes perfectly fine." Lurien quietly said. "Is the vessel doing alright, though?"

"My husband has been working to train the vessel in the past few days." The White Lady spoke up, holding the King's hand underneath the table. Her beloved wyrm was doing whatever he could to save the kingdom, but the slight traces of guilt and sadness still lingered in the air and in her thoughts. She didn't feel like talking about it anymore or she would lose her composure again. Crying in front of guests was definitely not on her list. "How is the city doing?" She asked.

"The typical. The City patrol has been hard at work on their overnight shifts down by the square. No more pesky ones down by the square, causing whatever trouble they like to do." Lurien rambled, staring out into the back window. He loved Hallownest, despite its current stasis. And he would especially miss his city when he was gone. Lurien then shifted his gaze to the two other bugs on his sides, the Teacher on his right and the Beast on his left. 

Monomon was lost in thought, presumably contemplating decisions. He had known Monomon well for majority of his life. The two were close friends with each other, working on city projects by themselves and sometimes with the King. The fruits of their efforts had shined through the past and future of the city. Whatever it was, education, arts, city projects, the trio had done an excellent job.

Meanwhile with Herrah, the two had heard of her, but never had any prior interaction beforehand. Her name already was notorious in Hallownest. Being Queen of Deepnest, she had rejected the rule of the Pale King into her territories, but somehow had complied with becoming a Dreamer. Furthermore, her menacing nature and somewhat short-tempered attitude was something not very suitable for the job done. The question was, how exactly the Pale King got her to comply with directions without her typically going into rage. They had never heard of her ever complying with him, something he himself had seemed to be stressed about for the past months.

"To start off today, it would be of my interest to know if the three of you are familiar with each other." The Pale King said, placing his cup down on the table. "Monomon, I think you already know Lurien well judging from the history between the two of you."

"Certainly." Monomon replied, her voice light with a distant tone. "We both worked together a while back. Lurien helped with the City Archives, for sure.”

"I certainly remember some of the things you have done for the city. The fruits of your teamwork.” The King nodded, pouring more tea into his cup. "Herrah, are you familiar with these two?"

The Deepnest Queen grunted before responding. "The Teacher and the Watcher." Her tone of voice clearly showed her lack of enthusiasm or interest into the project. It almost was as if she was forced into it somehow.

It was clear that the Pale King didn't seem to care less about Herrah's poor attitude, as long as she would stay a part of it.

"How is that child doing?" The Root asked after a short period of silence. A few seconds of short silence followed, the Beast clearly thinking of an answer to such a simple question.

"That rambunctious little thing." She mumbled, swishing the tea leaves in her cup. "My beautiful little girl.”

The Pale King nodded in agreement, seemingly satisfied with her answer. “Very well. It rather seems that you have upheld your part of the bargain as I did with mine.”

Monomon and Lurien exchanged shocked glances with each other, having a sort of feeling that something was definitely up with Herrah and the Pale King. Whatever it was, this whole thing with a child just seemed . .off. Whatever was going on, Lurien didn’t even plan to ask. He never was afraid easily, but today, he was too afraid to even make a peep to Herrah.

Lurien reached for the teapot, trying to pour another cup of tea. Only tiny droplets of tea came out of the pot. He grunted to himself as he opened up the teapot, shaking his head at the sight of the empty pot, with only the fewest drops of tea and a wet clump of leaves left inside. 

“Don’t fret about it, dear watcher. I’ll get ourselves more tea for later." The King said, calling over a Royal Retainer to refill the pot. "In the meantime, the three of you might already know about the vessel. Monomon, I assume you know much already about my experiments."

Monomon nodded. "Certainly. You still have yet to tell me about Exhibit D." 

The Pale King nodded, nervously chuckling. "Yes. . yes. . about Exhibit D.”

“I thought perhaps that it's time it'd be the best that the three of you learn about it.”

“Exhibit D?” Herrah mumbled.

“Ah yes. . Lady Monomon, you might know about the experimentation with the void.” The Pale King nervously chuckled. It did bother him quite a bit for the past few days on his own personal experiments he had been conducting for the past few months. His lingering guilt, over whatever had been tormenting him seemed to take the better of his judgement.

Little did they know what surprise regarding Exhibit D had waiting for them.

"Great. We're going back out again." Herrah grumbled under her breath. Lurien stood and watched as Monomon picked up her satchel. They both gave an odd look at Herrah, something clearly up with her. She wasn't trying to be rude, but she was already was somehow ruining the lighthearted and friendly atmosphere.

The King lead the way, guiding the rest of his party outside his palace to his private Stag Station. Unlike the main Stagways, the King's didn't follow the main routes around Hallownest. Rather, a private and secret path not known to anyone other than the staff at the Palace and the Court. It was confidential enough that bugs couldn’t even tell their spouses the locations. As they approached the station, the King's Elite Stag could be seen. It was unlike any other Stag they had seen, it rather stood out from other common stags. It was dressed ornately with Hallownest Seals and dressed in a similar fashion to the Kingsmoulds guarding the palace.

"Follow me." He commanded, the five of them boarding the carriage of the Stag. The Pale King and the White Lady entered first, and somehow, the Dreamers had to fit inside a single seat. No such seats were made to accommodate three.

Unfortunately, it seemed that Lurien was the last to get inside, getting squished against the door. Monomon shifted just a little, allowing Lurien to loosen up a bit in the already claustrophobic space. A Royal Retainer shut the door, enclosing the five of them in near-darkness, with the exception of Monomon's bioluminescence. 

With that, the Stag began it's journey to the unknown destination that rather shall not be named. The ride was off to a bumpy start, making some of the situation already worse. The uneasy movements of the car already made them want to leave immediately or rather walk to their destination.

"I'll be glad to get of here." Lurien thought to himself. While he was used to being in confined spaces, claustrophobia was definitely another whole subject.

Just as he did, a sudden motion shook the carriage, throwing the Wyrm to the top of the car. The sound of an explosion was evident from outside, creating a loud wall of sound that shook the insides. Lurien could have just sworn that he had went deaf, never having heard anything that loud prior in his life.

"My King, are you alright?" He asked, concerned. The White Lady scooped up her weak husband into her arms, looking around the room. Before the King could respond, a several smaller explosions could be heard from outside, the resulting blast seemingly hurling the carriage into the air.

The impact threw the Watcher to the top of the carriage, leaving a rather quite loud CRACK as pieces of his mask chipped off. By the time he had fallen back into his seat, it was evident that the impact had quickly knocked him out faster than the blink of an eye.

"Hold on and do not let go!" The Pale King shouted, attempting to make himself audible amidst the loud noises coming from outside.

"Lurien!" Monomon cried. She wrapped her tentacles around the smaller bug while the Beast wrapped herself around the Teacher. After a few more seconds, there was no denying that the carriage had became disconnected from the stag; who was nowhere to be sensed. However, this unusual feeling of propulsion came as if it was a rocket being launched upwards.

Bracing themselves for impact, the group huddled closer, just as the carriage popped out of the dirt and made a rough impact on dirt and concrete.

* * *

 "Jee, Tommy, won't you stop blowing crap up for once?" A woman could be heard screeching to a middle-schooler. He was caught again planting fireworks deep inside of the dirt, watching the amusing spectacle of dirt and rocks exploding up onto the surface. The little arsonist had created twelve holes in the past two and a half hours in the dirt field near the parking lot. His gig was almost up, he was almost running out of fireworks to plant underneath like little landmines. Noticing that it had became rather quite late, the little sadist quickly grabbed his shovel and bag, quickly fleeing the scene without anymore words spoken to the woman. The boy ran off, quick and heavy footsteps creating footprints in the dirt, wet from the drizzle not too long ago.

Laying right next to a rather large chunk of dirt and rock was the carriage in question. It had laid on the ground undisturbed for the past few hours, the wind gently rustling the surface like a blanket. Whatever this kid had buried inside had really caused quite a major explosion, already evident that it went probably at least a mile deep into the ground.

To the Dreamers, it felt as if a few minutes or even a few hours that passed before they woke from their nightmarish ride. Of course, time does fly when one is left knocked out for hours. A fading ray of sunlight could be seen through the broken door of the carriage, and it took no realization that the White Lady and the Pale King were missing.

"I think we're stranded here by ourselves." Herrah mumbled, shielding her eyes from the sunlight. "A foreign land of sorts, it seems."

Monomon exited, inspecting the carriage. The entire thing was nearly wrecked, and parts of it were burnt to a crisp, said for a single Hallownest Seal that remained in perfect condition.

"Can it be?" Monomon asked in astonishment, looking up to the skyline. "We're finally on the surface."

"The 'Surface', I assume is a metaphor for bug heaven." Herrah snapped. "Or bug hell. What if we're dead?"

"Dead?" The Teacher laughed, quickly patting down the ground and lightly tapping her co-workers. "Nonsensical!"

"Even more nonsensical that our highness and her majesty are missing too." Lurien mumbled, clearly in shock. 

"Yeah, because it killed them!" Herrah snarled, clearly irritated somehow.

"Killed? How could so?" Lurien defensively shouted, ready to start a fight with the Beast. He straightened himself up, pushing up his non-existant sleeves. The Watcher had already forgotten about being so afraid to speak with her, and yet he was, already trying to pick up a verbal argument with the leader of Deepnest.

Which unfortunately, is a rather not-so-clever move.

"Hush your bickering." Monomon lightly chided, "We are going to have a discussion about this later, Lurien."

Lurien's jaw dropped as he stared in the Teacher in disbelief, but he quickly stopped his aimless meddling. There already was too much distraction in this new world for the three of them to continue this type of nonsense with each other. Whatever it was; bug heaven, bug hell, bug paradise, or some new mythical place not known to Hallownest-kind; it was all too simple. If they wanted to survive, they needed to work together, even if Herrah could be a nightmare to work with.

Glancing out, the trio stared at the high concrete buildings out in the distance, as interesting carriages of sorts could be seen driving around on winding paths. The background of city lights gave soft illumination to the orange sky as the sun began to set. Tall trees gently swayed, green and brown leaves beginning to fall off in the gentle autumn weather. There was no answer to how long the three of them would remain there in the dirt lot. They had stood there in the dim sunlight for a while, staring off into the distance. A gentle breeze worked its way around the bugs, providing a comforting atmosphere for their new environment.

"I think we should begin to get going soon." Lurien told his coworkers, about to head off. They didn't have all night to stand there, waiting for what to do next.  
"Nobody knows how dangerous this new land is, Lurien." Monomon chided, pulling him back. "I'll lead, and you two will stay right next to me."

The three of them began to wander down the seemingly never-ending dirt road that soon faded into a sidewalk pavement. The remainder of their walk remained silent, the three lost in thought and awe at this new land. There simply was too much information and too many questions to process regarding their current situation for the time being.

"If only Hornet was here. . ." Herrah thought. She had left behind her only child in Hallownest, with the chances of a possible reunion growing slimmer.

Besides being lost and stranded from Hallownest, there was just another problem.

Humans, as they called them. Monomon remembered from her youth all those legends and fables about these titanic-sized beings who roamed a foreign land. Parents would often use it as a tactic to scare children, but it was no doubt that the possible presence of humans also terrified most bugs. Whatever these titans were, it'd be better to run off squealing than to be squished like a pancake.

But it was just all a myth, or was it? If so, who knows what terrible things they could do. What terrible things they could do to bugs like them. Maybe it'd be best for them to avoid any sort contact.

A tan-colored building laid at the end of the path, and the bugs looked up in astonishment. The surrounding premises appeared to be some sort of educational institution, as a few humans could be seen walking in and out, studying on tables and having fun. Carefully approaching the building, they watched their surroundings with great care before making their way on the front steps.

"Should we enter?" Lurien asked. "I suppose no human should be able to recognize our sizes."

"Perhaps. Shelter, it'll provide for us overnight." Monomon flatly responded. Just as they began to approach the entrance, an unlikely surprise was set up for the three of them.

"Ew! What are those!" A little girl could be heard, screaming and pointing at the bugs on the ground; quickly attracting the attention of passersby, presumably her older sister. It took a while for the Dreamers to realize she was talking about them, as they were so distracted by their own thoughts. Once they did, however, they quickly erupted into panic.

Monomon glanced at Lurien and Lurien eyed Herrah. This was not a good way to start off the first hour on the surface.

"Run." Monomon instructed. "Do not look back."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, this part is weird. I don't know what I was thinking when i first write this.


	2. The Human

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not all escapes go to plan.

Running to the inside of the building, the three bugs made a mad dash for wherever they could go unnoticed by humanity. They had to escape any sort of human contact whatsoever, simple, right?

With the little time left, Lurien grabbed onto Monomon's cowl; while she was floating like a remote-controlled plane on turbo speed. He was already out of breath from their scramble, definitely not fit for running an equivalent of the annual Hallownest Marathon. Just as the three were about to round the corner of the hall, their chase cut to an abrupt stop as they unexpectedly made impact and slammed onto a large black object, a case, perhaps. Whatever it was, it caught the attention of another human. One much, much larger than the little girl.

"Oh j-!" The human yelped, appearing to have choked on a sip of water at the same time. 

After a few seconds of coughs and wheezes, the human looked around for the cause of the sound. If they could, the Dreamers would be running already, but they were way too afraid to even move. Even wore, they already had minor scrapes and bruises from the nightmarish ride.

Unfortunately for them, the human turned her attention to her instrument case and screamed. 

_Loud._

"Oh god, oh god, it's just a bug!" She stammered, scooting her instrument case back. After taking a few breaths and with her back against the wall, she gave a look at the bugs, three of them shaking at her explosive reaction. It was a rather young human: braided black hair, a purple jacket, grey shirt and brown shorts.

"H-H-Holy frick! I got my extra credit for science!" She squealed, adjusting her navy-framed glasses.

"Extra credit?" Monomon mumbled. "Are we some sort of science experiment?" 

Before they could act, the girl bent down and took a plastic container, using the lid to quickly scoop the three of them in. She did it as if she was in a rapid hurry, quickly snapping the lid before grabbing her instrument case and walking outside.

Herrah sighed and growled. "Do they insist on letting us free or will they fight us and perish like a grub?" 

* * *

It was only six in the evening and the sun was already setting. There was nothing much the human could do while she waited for her ride for the time, so why not just check out whatever the hell she had captured in the cotton-swab container?

Taking a closer look into the container, it was nothing like anything she had read into a textbook or her teacher had ever mentioned. The three bugs were bizarre in their own way, almost that she didn't believe what she was even looking at. Pulling her saxophone swab out of her backpack, she laid it onto the table and adjusted it in a way that if any of the bugs were to escape, they'd have a hard time anyways. The human then took out her phone and photographed the bugs in their habitat. It was strange, but hey, she'd get several extra credit points for it.

Popping off the lid, the bugs spilled out onto the swab, the human using a wooden chopstick that reeked of soy sauce to navigate the bugs. She'd make sure to throw away the already-used chopstick later. 

At first glance, it was already evident that it was nothing other than a jellyfish with a tiny blanket, a tiny blanket with a cracked stone-thing, and a spider with . . . ah yes, a tiny blanket. Leaning in, she navigated through the bugs, bioluminescence piercing through the black swab. 

"What the heck are you guys?" She mumbled to the bugs. 

"We're bugs, idiot." Herrah growled. Her low voice and mumble was rather quiet, but was quite audible for the human to hear. 

The human went silent, trying to process the events that had just happened.

"Did you just freaking talk." She gasped. It was either that she got too hazy from the broken AC in the band room or she wasn't making any of this up.

"Herrah, please." Monomon sighed.

"Are you freaking serious?" The human asked again, before bursting into excitement. 

"Say something for me." She requested, the light glimmering in her eyes.

"Can you understand us?" Lurien shouted. Monomon looked at him in shock before glancing back to the human.

"No! No way! Hah!" She squealed, "Who are you guys?"

The watcher cleared his through before formally stepping out-and slipping on the sheen surface of the swab.

"My name is Lurien. Watcher and Keeper of the City of Tears." The Watcher explained. "On my right is Monomon, Teacher of Hallownest. Left is Herrah, Queen of Deepnest."

The human said nothing, simply glancing in confusion at the bugs.

"Lauren? Monomon? Hurrah? You're making this up, are you?" She giggled.

Monomon shook her head.

"It's Loor-ien. And Heh-rah." The Teacher explained furthermore. "No, we are not. Unless if we're in bug heaven."

"You guys are so cool!  Where do you come from?" She asked, gathering the bugs up into her bare hands.

"Hallownest. A Kingdom of Bug and Beast from below the surface." Lurien said.

"Hollownest?" The human laughed. "That's a thing? Alright, I'll tell you. How did you guys get up here?"

"A sort of. . explosion of sorts. The King and the Queen are nowhere to be found, and they've been long gone. There's no evidence pointing where they went." Monomon answered. "All we know is that they are still out there."

"Tommy? That guy again, he's blowing stuff up?" The human gasped in shock. "He's only a 7th grader, why would he even?"

"That Tommy!" Herrah angrily shrieked. "I'm going to kill him once we cross paths!"

Monomon facepalmed hard, as the human simply stood in confusion and shock.

"As you can tell, we're in a sticky situation at the moment." Monomon explained, trying to make the aura lighter.

"We need a place to stay. Preferably not a container of sorts or bait to your. . pets." Lurien nervously chuckled, starting to ponder what the heck he had gotten himself into this time. He felt already as if he was messing this up even more, and with a chipped mask and a human on hand, things weren't going to go well.

Monomon cleared her throat. "Well? I know very little of your own intentions, erm. . little one."

"Dusk is already falling on us, and we need to know if there are any places we could stay. There are no inns here or not?" The Watcher asked. The human simply looked around, before quickly going onto a light-up notepad to tap on the surface for a few seconds.

"I may not know any bug inns. But I do know home." She replied, getting up and scooping the bugs in like a bag of sorts.

Welp. Their long journey back to Hallownest was being delayed.

But it would be interesting.


	3. The Study

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Final Exams call for support.

It was already a quiet evening in a small neighborhood in the south side of the city. Nothing much could be said other than boys playing basketball in the driveway, rice being cooked in the kitchen, and foreign dramas playing from the living room.

Upstairs was a small white room adorned with posters and pictures, sheet musics, a few floral garlands long decayed, and several other pieces of unspecified memorabilia. The opened windows already showed that the sky was nearly a shade of pitch black, adorned with stars that resembled intricate spots on a rare mushroom. 

"Alrighty. Time to get studying." The human mumbled to herself, plopping her objects down on her desk. "Now where are they?"

Quickly regretting not tanking them, she realized that if she had done so, she'd have a lesser chance of getting to know them better. They would be interesting to show her life science class, though most other eighth graders her age would think she and the rest of the class was simply being nuts. Oh well, as long as she could get extra credit points on her final.

Scooping the bugs from various parts of the room, she plopped them aggressively onto the desk, trying not to accidentally kill them. Heck, she already was much too stressed to clean up jellyfish guts. Getting herself settled, she opened up the flat metal object, revealing a dimly-lit screen. Plugging in cords, she put the ends into her ear before getting to work, picking up her pencil.  Eyeing the notebooks, it came to shock to Monomon on what such things humans learned. There were common subjects like the ones every bug in Hallownest had to learn, while there were some she had never heard of herself.

"Lynn. . " Monomon exhaled, repeating the human's name in her head. She was trained in using romanized languages and they were common throughout Hallownest just like Hallowscript, but they just weren't much of her thing. Oh well. At least she'd try. It was slightly easier despite Hallowscript using simple pictures.

"Hm?" The human responded. "Oh, that's my name; right, right, right. I have a friend who calls me Lili, but that's . . . probably don't use that."

She began to quickly write a few things in a foreign language down before placing down her pencil and removing the ends of the cords out of her ears.

"So. . you three are from that Hallownest. . right?" She asked.

Monomon gave a nod in reply. "The King's loyal Dreamers. We have been asked to sleep to serve. Unfortunately, that won't seem to be happening any time soon now."  Lynn continued to write a few things down on a spare sheet of paper.

"Could you tell us a little more about yourself? I'm afraid we hadn't gotten a proper introduction yet." Lurien asked.

"Name's Lynn, I'm thirteen." Lynn replied. "I don't know what else I can tell you other than I like bugs, tenor sax, and memes. I actually just quoted that off my instagram bio. Could you possibly tell me more about this Hallownest?"

She paused to look at the three small bugs. "Maybe if you could, you can use my pencil to draw out some things."

Monomon eyed the pencil before picking it up. She had never used such writing materials before, unlike in Hallownest, where everything was scratched down with a stylus onto a tablet.

"Whatever such writing material could this possibly be. . " Monomon mumbled to herself before beginning to roughly sketch a map of Hallownest on the sheet of paper. Never had she had to use what felt like a large pole to write. Drifting upwards in the air, the other Dreamers and Lynn began to watch. Working swiftly, a outline of a map was quickly sketched.

Sometimes Lurien wondered how Monomon could memorize a complete map of Hallownest, including a few important districts. Though he was the Watcher of the City, he never could memorize every exact location at the exact same spot.

The map was complex, but wasn't detailed, rather quite enough to ring a bell for those who ever looked at it. Lynn went back quickly enough to doing her studying and nearly forgot about the bugs on her desk, but the maze-like sections of Hallownest were enough to keep her occasionally distracted from work. 

What sort of bug kingdom laid beneath the surface? Well, whatever this was, this was unlike anything anyone would ever know. Either such knowledge of a kingdom of Hallownest would probably have to be kept a secret.

"So I see this is Hallownest." Lynn said after a while, eying the labeled map. "Very interesting."

There were places that seemed interesting. The City of Tears, Deepnest, Greenpath. Some of them seemed quite literal, not like Greenpath was a literal green path, was it? There were some places that also sounded odd. Royal Waterways and the Ancient Basin. Only Lynn's imagination could tell her what those places exactly were with some interesting and amusing results. Did they paddle bug gondolas in the Royal Waterways? The reality would definitely be a nasty surprise to the middle schooler.

"Isn't Herrah from Deepnest?" Lynn asked.

"I am." Herrah grumbled, stabbing a hardbound sketchbook with a small pair of scissors in annoyance. "Or more specifically, human, you would refer me as your highness. However, I choose to be light on you for this time."

"Ah. Apologies, your highness." Lynn nervously said. It was going to be a ride having Herrah with the other bugs. Perhaps she could find a way to tame the beast from her savagery.

"So Lurien, aren't you like, the big cheese or something?"

"I watch over the City." Lurien responded, looking at Lynn's face. "Certainly it means my gaze falls over everything that happens."

Lynn let out a small noise of discomfort. She definitely did not mean to have accidentally picked up a stalker from the middle of nowhere. Even his one-eyed gaze was enough to send small chills down her spine. Well fuck that, there was nothing she could do about it anyways. 

Perhaps it'd be best if Lynn started studying again. Opening up her notebook, she tried her best to forget about the presence of the Dreamers on her desk. The presence of studying and final exams was already too much for her. Just one more week and winter break would already be on her. Then she could have more time to deal with these interesting insects. They already were a handful to deal with so far. Perhaps once she was finished, she could construct a little . . . house for them.

"Yo, Lurien. You guys know you can't follow me all around the house and to school." Lynn blurted, a hint of annoyance in her tone of voice.

"I understand. I would see why, but I also ask why myself." Monomon replied, rubbing two of her tentacles together, similar to how a human would rub their hands together.

"I feel you already know some of the reasons, but this is the human world. It's not like your Hallownest at all." Lynn explained. "I can take you out tomorrow, it's Saturday, so I don't have school."

"Oh, really." Herrah sneered. "Human, I just don't think this is going to do. Picture this. You, when you go back to that school, can take us back to that ditch."

Lynn let out a groan. "I am so, so, so sorry. I'm sorry, that is actually not my school a-"

"Then where is it, human? Are you trying to stop us from returning home?" Herrah threatened, holding the pair of scissors at Lynn like a nail. "Answer me or perish!"

"Herrah, there's no need to threaten a human like that." Monomon chided, placing a tentacle around her. "Lynn, could you try to explain to us?"

"Yeah, so . . I play in a band, so I'm traveling all over the place? I just picked you guys up from like, twenty five miles away, so." Lynn awkwardly said, shrugging her shoulders. "I'm leaving the place next week for the performance? And secondly, if you tried to make me perish, you'd lose to a flyswatter or a slipper."

"Ah. I see." Lurien said after a while. "I suppose it's not a battle to return to Hallownest anymore."

"I have no idea where you guys even popped out, and it'd take hours to dig a hole back down to this Hallownest." Lynn said, thinking. "Didn't you say that the King and the Queen were also missing?"

"Ah, yes!" Monomon eagerly blurted. "They disappeared as soon as we came up. I have no such idea on their whereabouts, however, I like to hope that they're safe."

"You guys want to go searching for them or no? We can do that tomorrow." Lynn asked. "Meanwhile, I have to study for finals."

The three dreamers looked at each other, whispering to each other in concerned voices. Their strong loyalty to the royalty of Hallownest was not ever meant to be broken.

It'd probably take days or weeks to search for them even in such a small location. Besides, there were too many threats on the surface: Other humans, rooms thrice the height of the City of Tears, those things called 'Cars', and wild animals.

The Wyrm did have supernatural abilities past the knowledge of even the Teacher herself, but if something were to go wrong, he simply could just reincarnate. Meanwhile, the Root had no such abilities. Or at least, no such known abilities. Who knows what horrible things could happen. Maybe the Wyrm was being used as a dog toy while his Root watched in horror. Maybe the Root had been taken into a gardening store and put up for sale. Or even worse, the Wyrm was being strangled by a crowd of frantic preschoolers.

"We'll go tomorrow." Lurien strongly said. "Wether if we can find the Pale King and the Root is a mystery, but we should still search for them. There's still hope."

"Great!" Lynn chirped. "So tomorrow! I'll do my studying now so I don't have to tomorrow."

Monomon's eyes lit up. "Would you like some help? I know quite a few of these."

"Oh, sure!" The eighth-grader smiled. "Just. . except for Japanese or U.S. History. . "

The other Dreamers watched as the Teacher and the human began to study together for the next hours. It was much more enjoyable than having to get help from an inexperienced high schooler who had no idea what they were even doing. For sure, there was quite a lot of understanding done, both between the Dreamers and the human, and also in Life Science.

House Rules were formed between the four during brief breaks, and for whatever reason, Lynn had managed to get the Dreamers to comply with her rules. Getting Herrah to not threaten Lynn with mechanical pencils, scissors, and seam rippers was one of them.

How interesting it was that such unlikely relationships like these could pop out of the blue. Perhaps there was still hope out there for the three of them.


	4. The Explorers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lynn and the Dreamers explore the city in hopes to find the Pale King and the White Lady.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I also apologize if this is the crappiest chapter so far.  
> And yes, I did have friends actually go to the beach during a what, catagory 4 hurricane.

The December days called for nice weather in the usually hot climate. The sky was cloudy and the air was only just a little colder. It didn't snow or anything of sorts there. 

Lynn walked down the sidewalk, with the Dreamers holding onto her cap, grabbing onto a button for support. It wasn't like they were going to fall off and land into a drain or something. 

"Do you see any 'Pale King' or 'White Lady'?" Lynn asked, with a hint of confusion. What kind of being was called the "White Lady"? Sounded more like something that if she were to learn about, she would already plan on not sleeping that night.

But that wasn't the focus. It was finding her and her partner. The four had walked to another nearby neighborhood not too far from Lynn's own, just a short five minute walk into town. It certainly wasn't anywhere near where the Dreamers first made ground on the surface, but there was still hope that after these couple days, they could have wandered off to an area around here.

It was near the ocean, in fact; right next to the ocean. If they were going to be out for the entire day, they might just be able to watch the sunset from the perfect view before heading home. She had heard from Monomon prior about Lurien's obsession with astronomy, so it seemed like the perfect treat for the group. Lynn could buy some food to share with the Dreamers. It'd be interesting to hear of their opinions on orange chicken and french fries.

"They're nowhere around here." Lurien said, looking out. He didn't have a telescope with him, so he couldn't see everything that they passed by. Little details would be lost, as Lurien's eye had little exposure to the sights on the surface. Already, the view from Lynn's head was stunning. A bustling neighborhood filled with malls, shops, restaurants, apartments, and hotels. It was much like the City of Tears, except with much more excitement, color, and life. The more he thought about it, it rather seemed more like the polar opposite of an already-dying out city.

Citizens could be seen living out their lives, running businesses, or strolling down the sidewalk. Thankfully, no pesky store vendors outside the stores even stopped to question the girl about the odd creatures atop her head. That would be a very interesting encounter. Herrah's defensive nature would definitely cause much more trouble than just a simple "What are those?" said by a salesperson.

"So what do you humans like to do?" Monomon asked, running a tentacle along the button on her hat. 

"Oh, just about anything, I guess." Lynn said, hitting a crosswalk button. "We probably do most things that you guys do down there. It also depends on the season I guess. It's way too cold to go to the beach, but people are still going there for whatever reason. Last time I checked, I had friends go to the beach during a cat. four hurricane."

"We don't really have seasons down there. For the majority, it's around the same almost everyday." Monomon responded after a few moments, looking out into the distance. "It also depends on regions too, I suppose." 

The group began to cross the street, and they soon arrived at another street. Stores could be seen on the strip, customers walking in and out in a frenzy. Christmas shopping was still hectic, and it seemed much like there'd be no stopping to it any time soon. Passing by a grocery store, Lynn stopped to take a look at the flowers and fruits out on display.

"Looks like there's some fresh fruits for today. I might buy dinner here later on." She mumbled, before returning back to the task. She got distracted here all the time whenever she went out with schoolmates or family, but there was plenty that the district had. It was a little overwhelming, perhaps, as no day was ever the same as the other. 

 "What kinds of humans are these?" Herrah asked, staring in awe, and perhaps disgust at hoards of tourists that were just around the corner. These humans were dressed in oddly colored attire, questionable garments, and carried with them interesting assortments of some items that they had never seen before. 

"Beach-goers." Lynn responded, continuing to walk down the street, pulling out her phone. "Unfortunately, I don't know if they know how cold it really is. Definitely not the best time for the beach, but you do you, man."

It was approaching noon, and some of the restaurants in the centers and streets were already beginning to have lines extend out to the sidewalk. The search for the higher beings would be much more difficult now, as they'd most likely be covered up by the legs, pets, and plants. Hopefully, they would not get stepped on or trampled on. Hopefully. Lynn pushed herself past the crowds, getting caught in the hoard of Christmas shoppers and vacation-goers. The crowds were suffocating, and there simply was too much people at this time of the year. After several trips, apologies, and bumps, Lynn managed to get through half-way of the stream of people. Just as she thought things would get worse, things would be wilder for the Dreamers. They themselves had never been through hoards like this, and it was virtually impossible to even do a search mission under these circumstances. 

However, just as they thought they had ran out of luck, just across the street, there was something.

Something familiar. The eyesore across the street. . 

"Lynn, halt!" Monomon shouted, tugging on her bangs. Lynn stopped abruptly in the crowd, trying to squeeze out of the narrow passageway. Stepping onto the side of the street, she squinted her eyes. She couldn't tell what it was, it was nothing like anything she had ever seen before. It was simply too . . gleaming. Whatever it was, it was emanating some sort of radiant light unlike anything else on the surface. While Lynn could see it perfectly fine, she couldn't even tell what it was.

"It's the Wyrm." Lurien gasped. Right there on the edge of the sidewalk, standing over a gutter, was nobody other than the Pale King and the White Lady. 

"Wyrm!" Monomon screeched. "It's us!"

"My loyal Dreamers!" The Pale King shouted. The White Lady was next to him, nervously watching an upcoming array of cars in concern. The Pale King gave off a soft grunt and stepped backwards on the pavement. He began to spread his delicate monarch wings and was prepared to soon cross the street, completely unaware of the upcoming stream of cars. This was probably not going to end well for him.

Unfortunately (and true to prediction) for him, he was cut off.

Before he could even step a single foot on the road, he was then cut off by the large stream of cars and trucks. The group couldn't see or hear him anymore, muffled by the colors, engines, and subwoofers. 

"I didn't know humans had such an interesting taste in music." Lurien mumbled, covering his ears. He was certainly no basshead towards music that reminded him of the crazy shoppers in the City seasons. 

Who knew what happened next. 

 


	5. The Preparations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lynn finishes her final exams, and prepares to go on a trip to a distant place. Luckily, she won't be alone.

The sounds of students cheering could be heard as the school closed up for winter break. Rivers of cheering crowds could be seen filing down the dense hallways, celebrating the start of break. Among in the river was Lynn, carrying her textbooks and keeping the Dreamers kept safely in-between. 

"I knew you could do it." Monomon cheered, gesturing to an algebra exam paper, with a red '93.5%' written in pen at the top. Lynn gave off a smile as she walked out of the hallway and into the pick-up zone where other students awaited for their rides. She done it. She finished her exams and was already halfway through the eighth grade year. Halfway until high school. There was nothing she had to worry about anymore, all she could do was now go home and relax or go out and get lunch.

It was probably her new-found freedom of the Winter Break that had broke her away from all the stress and all her problems.However, amidst all that, she just forgot another problem. A pretty big problem.

Lynn was going out-of-state in a few days. She would be by herself, in an place she had hardly been to except for once as a toddler. There was nobody home to take care of the Dreamers, and she couldn't trust anyone to take care of the rambunctious trio. Her mom would call her crazy, her dad doesn't care, and her older brother returning from college would be too freaked out to even say a thing. And besides, the Dreamers probably couldn't survive by themselves alone in the house.

As some people say, when out of ideas, there's always a last option-even if it's the most riskiest.

Unfortunately, when all else fails, take the Dreamers out-of-state. Gulp. 

Lynn had never traveled with pets before. There were so many dangers and threats to the Dreamers that traveling had. Security, airplanes, crowded hotels, dogs, wild crabs, snakes, and even more little kids. The last thing Lynn needed was for the Dreamers to end up either perishing or missing by the end of the week-and-a-half long trip. Big oof.

As a red car approached, Lynn gathered her things and opened the door, jumping inside. Quickly enough, the Dreamers took note that this wasn't any one of Lynn's family members, but rather an unfamiliar woman, along with another unfamiliar student that they might have saw earlier that morning in the halls. After all, she was the same age as Lynn. She couldn't hurt them, could they?

"Oh hey." Lynn said to the student, closing the car door. The Dreamers sat on her lap, covered behind books and a jacket, and remained silent.

"Who do you think this is?" Monomon quietly mumbled to the other Dreamers. Lurien shrugged his shoulders and Herrah simply couldn't care less, as long as this person wouldn't end up killing them. Ah yes, the constant fear of death, especially when you're a three-inch tall insect from another kingdom.

* * *

 

Sitting down on piles of clothing, the Dreamers stared in confusion at why their human was packing up their belongings. They were surrounded by empty packing cubes, piles of shoes and clothing, and a plate of Chocorooms. They already knew quite a lot of Lynn by how much she blabbed to them, so any sort of activity similar to what she was doing seemed out-of-the-ordinary to them. Nothing but a outgoing, interesting, and sometimes a little awkward girl.

"You've been sort of quiet ever since we came home. Is something on your mind?" Monomon broke the silence. While she didn't have the sharpest eyesight, she had the sharpest eyes when it came to observing behaviors, which sometimes scared Lynn herself. It sometimes was like her feelings could not be hidden to her occasional late night therapist.

"I'm going out-of-state next week, in like, three days." Lynn uttered after a while, nervously glancing to her right.

"Pardon?" Lurien flatly asked. While his knowledge about the U.S. was limited besides a few crash course videos he watched with Lady Monomon, he knew from few context that this was not good news at all. 

"Great. So you're abandoning us." Herrah scoffed. "Nothing makes a human unlike a traitor."

"I don't know, but if you guys want, you can stay here. I wouldn't suggest it." Lynn anxiously said, adjusting her glasses. "I'm going to be gone for over a week if you do stay."

"A week?!" Herrah shrieked, already fuming. "Listen here, little human. We want to live. No way that'd I'd stay in that little death-trap of yours, Rin."

"It's _Lynn_!" Lurien shouted. Herrah rolled her eyes and tried to shoo Lurien away. 

 _Wow, rude._ Lurien thought to himself.

"Whatever, _Lynn_. Whatever." She grumbled. "I guess we'll have to come with you then! Or you're going to let us starve to death in a closet."

"Herrah, please." Monomon sighed, placing a tentacle in the middle of her mask.

"Yeah, that's the . . uhh. . . " Lynn fumbled. "Uh. . That's why I'm going to be taking you?" 

The Dreamers watched as Lynn got up, taking a handful of shirts off their hangers. Carefully placing them over once another, she sat back down and began to fold them.

"I don't think you might have seen my schedule yet, but . . oh, you're actually on top of it."  She gestured to a schedule on the ground. The Teacher gazed down at the schedule and pulled out bug-sized reading glasses from underneath her cowl. Some of the things on the paper she had never heard of, but it was already evident that there was a plethora of events, performances and activities in the ten-day long trip.

"Reminds me of that one trip I took with Lurien around the lands." Monomon mused. "We spent weeks going around different Kingdoms for our presentation regarding our research."

Lurien grunted. "And your decision to share the bed in the rooms. You never stopped rustling in your slumber, and I barely got any rest."

"Ah, ah, yes." Monomon chuckled. "You're not very much of an active sleeper are you, Lynn?"

"Oh jee, no." Lynn dropped dead. "I was a nightmare to my roommate during sixth grade camp."

The girl placed a few of the shirts into the suitcase, rearranging a few things in it. Grabbing her backpack, which had been sitting inside, she opened it up to shove her forms in. She wouldn’t want to go anywhere without her travel documents, waivers and music, wouldn’t she? Also grabbing her wallet, she checked her cards quick, ensuring she would have enough money to purchase necessities and goods. And also her school identification card, sometimes just for discounts.

”Do you use some sort of currency down there?” Lynn asked, sorting through her backpack. 

“Geo. They’re far from similar to your coins, paper strips and cards. Small little shells of fossils, I would say. Not far from coins, and nothing else fancy.” Monomon replied, breading apart and eating one of the chocorooms.

"This Hallownest place does sound really cool, if I'm not making this all up in my head." Lynn sighed, searching around for a packed cube and settling it inside of her suitcase. Reaching over to a pile of packing cubes, she grabbed one, placing already-wrapped shoes in them. 

"Alright. I guess that's it. Just have to assemble them now." She sighed, proceeding to place all the packing cubes nearly and organized. "Hey, just wondering, but how's travel in Hallownest, though?"

"Stags." Lurien was quick to reply. "Stags are traditional in use of travel, and there are several stag stations down there. There also are lifts and trams if you please."

"That Wyrm was very quick to put a station in the Distant Village. Foolish of him." Herrah scoffed. Whatever else did the King exactly do that made her so angry all the time? Was she somehow forced into this? Did something happen between the two of them? Never mind. Lynn would have much more later to dig through her imaginary list of questions regarding Herrah's underlying feelings.

"I ask way too much questions. Oh!" Lynn gasped, suddenly remembering something. "And we can't forget this." 

Taking out from behind her was another odd contraption. It was white, and shaped much like a long white music note. Its bulb-shaped head had a pair of dots for eyes and an awkward smile on its' face. The Dreamers looked up in confusion at the awkward device, unsure of what it would do. They probably didn't want to know how annoying the sound the device produced would be.

"Yep yep, we've got all the stuff for annoying Mabel with, we got the sketchbook and the bag. ." Lynn mumbled, digging through her backpack before zipping it up. "I hope she gives me back my Whale Shark though."

"You know if you guys need to bring something with you, you just tell me, cause I've got these doll-sized bags." She explained, before shooting Herrah a look. "No weapons allowed. Y'all can just like. . yeah."

Monomon grabbed one of the bags eagerly, peering inside before placing several bug-sized tablets inside. 

"Oh jee, she's all ready." Lynn commented, laughing at how quick Monomon could decide on what to bring.

"It's always a essential of mine to bring tablets." The Teacher remarked. "I've spent years traveling all over, in and out of Hallownest."

Lynn continued to put in the rest of the packing cubes in the suitcase before finally zipping it up. Placing a scale on it, she lifted it up before glancing at the weight.

"Just enough on the first try." She expressed. "That's a good luck sign."

Moving the luggage to the corner of her room, she settled her backpack on top of it. Turning to look at the bugs down on the floor, she straightened up her expression.

"Welp, we're now ready to go." She sighed, before her eyes drifted towards her tenor saxophone case. When was the last time she had cleaned or polished her instrument? Not in five months as she known. It might not have been as bad as that kid who didn't wash their mouthpiece in four months or the happy family of spiders taking up space in one of the clarinets. But sigh. . it was time for someone to get cleaned up already. 

"Well, almost."


	6. The Flight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day has arrived, and the Dreamers must survive a five-hour plane ride.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning that this is the longest chapter in this entire work. I mean, this thing is long.  
> Some of Lynn's experiences have been based off my own personal experiences. I highly recommend not actually doing this in real life.

 "Have fun there!" Lynn's mother said, hugging her as the Dreamers watched silently amidst the hustle and bustle.

How surprising that for the past so weeks, she didn't notice that her daughter carried these strange bugs with her wherever she went. Perhaps she was occasionally distracted by Lynn's whale shark plush, which had surprisingly gone missing as said earlier.

"Don't forget to call us!" Her father jumped in, getting back into car. Lynn waved goodbye as she watched the car drive off, joining a traffic jam of other cars.

Welp.

This was it. Lynn was by herself, stuck with three-hundred-something other kids, most which she had never met before. She turned to look at the other groups of kids from a school she didn't recognize, waiting eagerly in line for check-in. 

"I say that we should start the check-in." Lynn said, picking up her suitcase and instrument. Heading towards agriculture inspection, she managed to put her items on the belt as the Dreamers watched.

"The airport is just full of these machines. You guys might want to stay back." Lynn whispered to Monomon. She picked her items up, walking to a luggage tag stand and picking up a luggage tag. She knelt down, tying the strap onto her instrument after scribbling something on the inside of the tag. 

Lurien carefully slid down, resting on top of her backpack strap. It was interesting observing how humans worked, they moved so quickly with swift fingers and fluid motions that most bugs couldn't even replicate. Walking towards the crowd, Lynn then rolled her suitcase and instrument with her.

"Are you sure . . you need that much to bring with you?" Lurien questioned, looking at the large suitcase. 

"It's got all my things I need. I'd say around seven shirts, eight pairs of pants, two pairs of tights, three pairs of shoes." Lynn said, shrugging. "I've got more in my backpack."

"You'll need room if you want to bring back something." Monomon reminded, resting atop of the suitcase, seemingly as if she was about to doze off.

The line in front of Lynn was beginning to get shorter as more kids got their boarding passes and began to head off to security. Maybe if time allowed, Lynn could meet up with her classmates who also were in the group. There weren't many people from Lynn's school, around eight of them acting as a representative. Hell no would she ever expose the Dreamers to any of them, some of them were just big snitches.

The person in front of Lynn left, and she walked up to the counter, being greeted by an employee.

The two began to engage in a brief conversation, the employee taking the suitcase onto the scale. Lynn scooped the two Dreamers up quickly and placed them in her jacket pocket. The three already had gotten used to being stuffed together in a jacket pocket, so it wasn't such a big problem to them anymore. Often times, Lynn had her hands in her pockets so nobody could question whatever she had inside.  

It was quite a spectacle for the bugs themselves. Those magical screens that humans touched that could grant them whatever requests, these conveyer belts that sent luggage down like crystals in the Crystal Peak. What other bizarre and shocking contraptions did humans have here?

"Where do you think that'll go?" Herrah muttered.

"Not sure. It seems as if there's an underground network of contraptions. Only question is what sort of contraption for what purpose." Monomon answered. She wasn't much of a tech wiz herself, but it would be nice to learn more about these interesting devices, especially what they called "iPhones" and "Airpods" that some of Lynn's classmates liked to brag about. 

"Alright, here you go, have fun." The employee said, handing a boarding pass to her before sipping a cup of coffee. Lynn began to walk off with her pass quickly enough, and headed towards a bench to briefly rest. 

Thoughts began to now race back and forth on her mind. This was now the part Lynn could not fuck up a single bit. There was not even room for a single mistake to be made. Or else, she could end up causing a lot of trouble for everyone. Sitting down on the bench, she scooped the Dreamers and placed them on her lap. 

"Alright, this is a really serious discussion. You're gonna have to listen really good." Lynn cautioned. It wasn't typical for Lynn to speak in such a serious tone, so the Dreamers listened carefully.

"Is something the matter?" Lurien concerningly asked, cocking his head. Monomon exchanged a look of worry with him, while Herrah gave off an annoyed stare at Lynn.

"If you're gonna tell us something now, it's probably too late." Herrah scoffed. Lynn sighed, shaking her head.

"You see that crowd?" Lynn whispered, gesturing at the security line. "We've got over two hours until our flight leaves. They will not let me take you guys, but I've got a solution."

Lynn put the Dreamers in her hands and got up, walking to the security line. "I need you guys to quietly and carefully walk through security. Do not walk through those machines, go underneath and against the wall. The exit is those glass doors. Got it?"

Lurien looked at Monomon, who looked at Herrah.

"Understood. Herrah, would you mind doing the offer?" Monomon politely asked.

Herrah scoffed. "Sure. But you better not cause me trouble."

Lynn beamed. She knew this plan was going to work out. "Good luck and stay safe." She whispered, setting the Dreamers down. Lynn waited as Monomon and Lurien got themselves on Herrah's back. 

And soon, they were off.

"Hold on, Watcher." Herrah uttered before beginning her mad dash through the unknown. Sliding underneath the gate, the Dreamers remained silent, perhaps in awe and fear of such a strange environment. Monomon gazed up at what even more interesting contraptions they had. Things like these scanners. The three were now underneath an object screening machine, navigating a maze of tray-like containers. They couldn't see Lynn very well, and there were too much feet to recognize as her own. It didn't matter. They had to get out.

"Take care to avoid these humans. You know what happens when we get caught." Lurien warned as Herrah continued to burrow through the tight rows of containers. 

Monomon coughed, the dust clearly having had gathered on them after quite a while. Lurien held on tighter at the sudden jolt of movement. After what seemed to be a few moments, Herrah popped out of the containers, light finally coming into their eyes again. They were halfway through the room. Sneaking behind a few employees, Herrah backed up against a wall, accidentally slamming Monomon against it. Lynn could be seen, walking through one of the scanners now.

Now they had to dodge being stepped on or rolled on by a chair. One step and it was over.

"Careful, dear." Monomon whispered. Herrah's sharp reflexes were finally being put to the test. 

"Alright, dear Teacher." 

_Miss._

_Miss._

_Close call._

Lurien gave a sigh of relief. They almost were out of the zone. Sliding underneath a metal table, they continued to make their way out, in anticipation. Once they were out, they stopped in front of the large glass door Lynn had spoken about earlier. This was an interesting one. It wasn't pushed or pulled open, rather it seemed that it opened on its' own.

"Well, this is it." Herrah mumbled, getting ready to walk through the door and out of that hellish zone.

Unfortunately for them, they only ended up smacking into the glass. It rather seemed to be that the three Dreamers were too small to be picked up by the motion detector.

Looking out, they could see Lynn starting to exit the zone. Thank god. She began to approach the door, the doors beginning to open. Great. Now they could exit that place. Hopefully they would never have to do that ever again.

"Pray that I will never have to do that again." Lurien exasperated, getting off of Herrah. Monomon approached Lynn and tugged on her sock. 

"Oh? You guys made it through!" Lynn gasped. "Follow me."

She kneeled down so that the three bugs could hop onto her shoulder. And with that, the group was off to the gate.

There was not much to be seen as most of the stores near the gate were already closed, except for the occasional duty-free. "Smile!" Lynn cheered, smiling at the camera. Looking at the photo, she couldn't tell if the Dreamers were even smiling or showing emotion. Of course, they did wear masks, so any sort of expression would be difficult to make out. Stopping near the entrance to the gates, Lynn stopped to admire the view of the night sky, accompanied by the other buildings and the parked planes. 

"So I see these are. . airplanes?" Lurien wondered. "The human technology is simply marvelous."

"Mhm. We're gonna be getting on one of these soon." Lynn replied, nodding her head. "Are you three ready?"

"As well as we'll ever be." Monomon sighed.

"I can get you anything you need on there." Lynn said back.

"I'd rather sleep." Lurien shrugged, sounding somewhat sleep-deprived from his tone of voice. The human suddenly gasped out of nowhere, as if remembering something.

"Oh, I didn't tell you guys yet, and I'm sorry, but I also made you these coats last night? I'm sorry, I kinda rushed these?" Lynn mused, in her usual confused tone. Reaching into her backpack and after a few moments of digging, she pulled out three small coats. They were in the same dark blue shade, except with a layer of cream-colored fluff on the inside and a single small button.

"So I suppose we're expecting cold weather, huh?" Herrah trailed off. "Perfect."

Lurien took his coat and snapped it on. It felt a certain type of warm, not extremely warm, but cozily warm to make him fall asleep. Monomon seemed to like hers. To her, it seemed pretty useful and also looked pretty cute on her too. Herrah didn't care, as usual. Though to be honest, it looked more like something she would make her own daughter wear.

"Are you guys ready to head on?" Lynn stammered, packing her things up and sliding her backpack on again. "If so, let's go."

Lynn scooped the Dreamers up in her arms and continued walking on. She walked into the terminal, searching for her gate. It wasn't that hard, since it was in front of the entrance. Upon walking in, she was greeted by one of her classmates. 

"Hey!" She chirped. "You ready?"

Lynn's friend smiled. "Yup. I brought a ton of things."

And then, Lynn's friend turned to the Dreamers. "Cool stuffed toys, bro."

Lynn stood in shock. She wasn't sure what to do. 

"Those aren't stuffed toys, Mabel." 

"What the heck!"

"No, I'll explain." Lynn ushered trying to calm the situation; dragging her friend down the hall and onto an outside table of a closed restaurant. Welp, secrets don't last forever.

Pulling up a chair, Lynn sat down in front of her friend.

"These aren't stuffed animals." Lynn remarked. "Found these at that high school the other week." Her friend stared in awe and shock at the bugs. What exactly were those?

"This is Monomon, the teacher." Lynn informed, handing Monomon to her friend. "Monomon, this is Mabel, she plays clarinet, and she's my roommate."

Mabel looked at the teacher, who squirmed in her hands. She was disturbed and fascinated at the same time. "Hello. . Monomon?"

"Hello Mabel! I'm Monomon. This is Lurien, and that's Herrah." Monomon chirped, trying to make a good impression on the impromptu meeting; feeling a little anxious at the uncomfortable and confused glare that was of Mabel's.

"I'm going to end you." Herrah growled. Mabel squinted a little at Herrah before turning back to look at Lynn.

"Oh, don't worry. She can be like that sometimes. Not sure why." Lynn reassured. "Lurien here is a little shyer out of the bunch."

Mabel took a closer look, observing the three bugs. "Interesting. So I'm going to be one of Lynn's roommates over the trip. We've got one half of the room, and the other half goes to Corinne and . . what's her name? I don't know."

"I think it's that girl from the percussion section we've never talked to before. So Mabel, uh. . could you keep them as a secret?" Lynn asked. Mabel gave a serious look at her, before gave an expression that seemed to say 'sure why not?'.

"Absolutely." Mabel replied. "Cause I don't want to get sent back or busted. I think we should head on. I think they're starting to board soon. And yep, they are."

"Boarding already?" Lurien asked. 

"They already started. I think they're close to our boarding group soon." Mabel replied, slinging on her large messenger tote and getting up. Lynn followed Mabel back to the gate, where the two walked in, staring through the window.

"You remembered your instrument?" Lynn asked, trying not to laugh, setting down her saxophone case.

"Of course, it's in this boy." Mabel responded, slapping her bag. "Hey, which seat are you sitting in?"

"A23." Lynn grunted, dropping the Dreamers into her pocket once again, digging for her boarding pass.

"Why are you so ahead? I'm in E34." Mabel wailed. "Oh well. I'm gonna sleep for the whole thing anyways. Or I'm gonna write my fanfiction again."

"Oh my god Mabel Kang, you better not!" Lynn suddenly shouted. 

"Hey, but it's a good game!" Mabel protested as the two friends joined the long line. "I brought my switch with me. ."

"I brought my laptop." Lynn chuckled. "And of course I brought my charger, cause I know you're going to use it to shop on etsy."

"And I brought . . cork grease. Extras. And your Whale Shark."

"You brought my whale shark? Oh my god, I kept forgetting about it. Oh yeah, and I brought the 'Mabel Annoyance Device' too."

"Dear God, not the otamatone!"

After what seemed to be a small eternity, an employee called up for the next boarding group. Luckily, the two managed to be the sixth in line. 

"Thank you, have a safe flight." Another employee said, taking the ticket and scanning it. And with that, the journey was about to begin.

"I think we're about to get on this so-called airplane." Lurien muttered. There was this strange sound that seemed to envelope the three, which sounded awfully like some sort of vacuum. 

"I hope we'll be out of here quickly." Monomon muttered, yawning. "A nap would be nice."

"I believe we're almost in there. I can see we're approaching the entrance to. . whatever this is." Lurien sighed. By the time he turned around, he had noticed that the Teacher had quickly fallen asleep silently next to him. Sometimes, he liked to wonder how late the Teacher would stay up reading through texts and writings.

Glancing out, the bugs (or at least the ones who were still awake) could see the interior of the cabin, seemingly claustrophobic for the humans themselves. Luggage could be seen shoved into the overhead compartments, and the other passengers could be seen getting in their seats.

Taking her jacket off, Lynn placed the jacket carefully on the seat before heading off somewhere. The warmth of the jacket already was beginning to make Lurien start to feel all nice and cozy, something which he didn't expect to feel for the next few hours. He'd just hope that wherever they went, there'd be nice weather, nice scenery, and nice food. Slowly starting to drift off, the Watcher soon found himself asleep in one of Monomon's arms, perfectly relaxed.

It was done.

It had been done.

There would be no turning back now, this would be the start of a new adventure.

One hell of an adventure. 


	7. Where Are They Now?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An update back in the Kingdom of Hallownest.

Days had passed.

It had been a little over two weeks since the hellish carriage ride which had caught the attention of the citizens of Hallownest.

Frantic, bugs organized search parties to search for the missing Higher Beings and the Dreamers. 

Day and night, they spent searching for where they possibly could have been. Huge search parties flooded the Stag Tunnels in search of their whereabouts, until they came across blockages in their paths. Reporters in Hallownest spent days interviewing and speaking to the King's guards and butlers, hoping to write new stories for the Hallownest Daily. Devout bugs began flocking in large groups to the fountain to pay respects to their King. It had seemed that in just the matter of a few days, a anticipating gloom wavered over the kingdom.

Among those in the commotion included the members of the Royal Court.

_The King's Knights decided to assist in tidying up the Palace, so that if they were to return home, everything would be set and ready. Even if it would take months or years._

_Hundreds of delicate flowers were arranged in front of the Palace as a symbol of hope for the Higher Beings and the Kingdom. A speech was even given in front of the Palace. The King's Knights all stood in silence, not paying attention to the massive audience. The King's most loyal knight, Ogrim, reminded citizens to never lose hope even in the darkest time. The power of hope was to serve as a guide for citizens and the future of Hallownest._

It also included the families of the Dreamers.

_Lurien's assistant spent days in his alone. He covered up his telescope and watched as it slowly started to begin to gather dust on the cloth as days slowly passed. Lurien's unfinished paintings began to also gather dust particles, sticking to the surface of the already long-dried paint. They never spoke or left Lurien's living quarters during the entire ordeal. They refused to be interviewed, and simply watched as reporters pounded on the doors to the spire, desperate for answers._

_The Citizens of Deepnest seemed less productive and happier than usual. The Midwife, now in care of Herrah's child began to wait out the days. She spent hours in her den, pondering the return of the Queen, and most importantly, if the Queen would ever see her child again. The child, in question, was much too young to fully understand of the current events and her mother's fate. She didn't cry or mope about it. She simply remained still, flatly calling out for her mama. Perhaps mama would not return._

_Monomon's apprentice was still busy as a bee, if not, busier than ever. The entire Archives was now his to take care of since she was now gone. Working tirelessly, he vowed to do his best job for he hoped that the Teacher would be found eventually. Though the technology in Hallownest was not advanced enough, he perhaps, could eventually find a effective way. Occasionally accompanied with a the few other remaining pupils of Monomon, the Archive was mainly empty of life, except for the humming of uomas and oomas floating in the acidic airs._

**Author's Note:**

> This work might take longer to update than my other work. Apologies if my English or writing skills might have issues, I've used it for nearly my entire life, but it's not the best.  
> This work also has no direction and just goes whenever. But I swear, this story will end eventually. Everything has to end at some point, doesn't it?


End file.
